Mobility

Meet the NeuV: New Electric Urban Vehicle

As part of the Cooperative Mobility Ecosystem, the NeuV (pronounced “new-v”), which stands for New Electric Urban Vehicle, is a concept vehicle whose genesis is based on the fact that privately-owned vehicles sit idle 96 percent of the time. The NeuV proposes new value for its owner by functioning as an automated ride-sharing vehicle, picking up and dropping off customers at local destinations when the owner is not using the car. The vehicle can also sell energy back to the electric grid during times of high demand when it’s not in use. These activities have the potential to create a new business model for enterprising customers.

“We designed NeuV to become more valuable to the owner by optimizing and monetizing the vehicle's down time,” said Mike Tsay, principal designer, Honda R&D Americas.

NeuV also functions as a thoughtful and helpful AI assistant utilizing an “emotion engine”, an emerging technology developed by Honda and SoftBank (cocoro SB Corp.) called HANA (Honda Automated Network Assistant). In its application in the NeuV, the “emotion engine” will learn from the driver by detecting the emotions behind the driver's judgments and then, based on the driver's past decisions, make new choices and recommendations. HANA can check on the driver's emotional well-being, make music recommendations based on mood, and support the owner's daily driving routine.

The NeuV features a full touch panel interface enabling both the driver and passenger to access a simple and convenient user experience. The vehicle has two seats, a storage area in back, and an electric skateboard for “last mile” transit. The NeuV also features outstanding outward visibility via a headerless windshield and a dramatically sloping belt-line that makes maneuvering easy.